An investigation of the hydrogeologic connections among the Scioto River, the glacial-outwash aquifer, and the carbonate aquifer at South Well Field, Southern Franklin County, Ohio
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Date
1989-03
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
This study was conducted to determine the relative contributions from the glacial-outwash aquifer, upward leakage from the carbonate aquifer, and induced stream infiltration from the Scioto River to the three radial-collector wells located along the east floodplain of the Scioto River in Southern Franklin County, Ohio. These wells are used for municipal purposes by the county and by the City of Columbus and provide about 15 percent of the local water supply. The study is based on water-quality analyses of samples of the various source waters. Potential mixing of the source waters in the collector wells was analyzed using the results of ten samples from the Scioto River, three samples from the collector wells, five samples from the glacial-outwash aquifer, and seven samples from the carbonate aquifer. Piper diagrams, ratio studies and mixing diagrams were used to determine if mixing is occurring. For ions which indicated mixing calculations of the relative contributions were performed using the mixing equation. Results indicate that induced stream infiltration from the Scioto River accounts for about 26 percent of the water produced by the collector wells. No contribution from the carbonate aquifer was indicated by the mixing evaluations. Variations in ion concentrations in the Scioto River with changes in water temperature and river discharge also were examined. Graphs were constructed of ion concentration versus river discharge and versus river water temperature. These studies show that ion concentrations tend to increase as temperature decreases, and to increase as river discharge increases. These trends in water quality in the river should be reflected in the water produced by the collector wells due to induced stream infiltration.